The Toronto stock market moved lower Wednesday after a downgrade of Portugal's debt pressured the euro and pushed the U.S. dollar higher, which in turn punished oil and metal prices.
The S&P/TSX Composite Index settled 81.57 points to 11,962.97.
Among energy issues, Encana Corp. dropped 67 cents to $30.82.
Bonavista Energy Trust units declined 38 cents to $23.80 after it said it will pay $228 million cash to Suncor Energy for natural gas properties adjacent to its Whitecourt property in Alberta.
It will fund the acquisition with a combination of equity sales and bank debt. Suncor shares were down 23 cents to $31.17.
The gold sector lost ground as Barrick Gold dropped $1.27 to $38.17 while Goldcorp Inc. fell $1.31 to $38.23.
The base metals sector stepped back with May copper down four cents to $3.34 U.S. a pound.
HudBay Minerals fell 52 cents to $13.28 and Labrador Iron Mines Holdings declined 23 cents to $5.51.
Losses built up in the telecom and tech sectors as Rogers Communications Inc. shed 76 cents to $34.57 while Research In Motion Ltd. moved 90 cents lower to $75.85.
In other corporate news, AGF Management Ltd. reported that its profit in the latest quarter was $30.6 million, up from $12.2 million in the comparable quarter of 2009. The mutual fund operator’s profit amounted to 34 cents per share, missing analyst estimates by a penny, but its shares gained 19 cents to $18.77.
Timminco Ltd. has opted to settle a debt with one of its customers by granting it a 10% stake in the concern, which produces specialty metals including solar-grade silicon.
The Toronto-based company owed about euro9.7 million ($13.3 million) to Q-Cells SE dating to last May and involving the termination of contracts scrapped in 2008. Timminco shares ran ahead nine cents to 88 cents.
Bombardier Transportation says it has received an order worth $474 million U.S. to provide an additional 49 regional double-deck trains to France’s national railway. Its shares slipped eight cents to $5.79.
The Canadian dollar slumped 0.84 cents to 97.61 cents U.S.
ON BAYSTREET
All but two of the 14 TSX subgroups were lower on the day. Gold slid 3.4%, materials listed 2% lower and global base metals stocks tailed off 0.8%.
The lone gainers were health-care, up 1.4%, and real-estate, ahead 0.2%.
The TSX Venture Exchange lost 9.94 points to 1,551.24. The Nasdaq Canada index backtracked 13.45 points to 795.65.
ON WALLSTREET
In New York, equities fell Wednesday as concerns about fiscal pressures in Europe resurfaced and a government report showed sales of new homes fell to a record low.
The Dow Jones industrial average subtracted 52.68 points to end the day at 10,836.15. The S&P 500 index eased 6.45 points to 1,167.72, while the tech-rich Nasdaq let go of 16.48 points to 2,398.97.
The retreat comes after ratings agency Fitch lowered Portugal's sovereign credit rating one notch, reigniting concerns that the debt crisis in Greece could spread to other countries in Europe.
The downgrade battered the euro, which fell to its lowest level against the dollar since May. The stronger dollar weighed on commodity prices, driving oil down 1.7%.
Traders said volume remained light, suggesting the market could regain the upward momentum that has propelled the major indexes sharply higher over the last few months.
Stocks rallied Tuesday, with all three major indexes ending at new 18-month highs following the release of an existing home sales report that was better than expected.
Meanwhile, investors were on edge Wednesday ahead of testimony Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke is due to deliver Thursday before the House committee on financial services.
Bernanke is expected to discuss how the central bank plans to eventually unwind some of its emergency liquidity facilities as the economy continues to show signs of a gradual recovery.
Shares of Starbucks rose after the coffeehouse chain announced plans to pay an initial dividend of 10 cents U.S. per share on April 23 to investors on record when the market closes April 7.
General Mills reported adjusted earnings per share of 97 cents U.S. on net sales of $3.6 billion U.S. in its fiscal third quarter. Analysts surveyed by Thomson Financial had expected earnings per share of 85 cents U.S. and sales of $3.5 billion U.S. Despite the strong results, shares of General Mills fell nearly 2%.
Lennar gained nearly 5% after the homebuilder reported a smaller-than-expected quarterly loss of four cents U.S. per share, versus a loss of 89 cents U.S. a year ago. The company said it sees signs the U.S. housing market is moving towards stabilization.
Economically speaking, sales of new homes unexpectedly fell 2.2% to a seasonally-adjusted annual rate of 308,000 units. Economists surveyed by Briefing.com had expected a jump to a 315,000-annualized-unit rate from a 305,000-annualized-unit rate in January.
Elsewhere, the Commerce Department released its report on durable goods orders, showing a gain of 0.5% in February, which was the third consecutive increase and in line with economists' expectations.
Durable goods excluding autos rose 0.9%, after falling 1% in January. Economists expected an increase of 0.3%.
The price of the benchmark 10-year note dropped sharply, lifting yields to 3.83% from Tuesday’s 3.68%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
The price of a barrel of oil fell $1.53 to $80.35 U.S.
Gold prices moved $15 lower to $1,089 U.S.
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